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Hey all - I messed up the themes. You may have to reselect your theme in the lower left hand corner of the main page.

I saw BvS again last night since the wife wanted to see it and I have to say I liked it better the second time. Still not a great movie as Kyle pointed out the glaring mistakes. I will admit when I heard Snyder was directing it I lowered my expectations as the only worse director they probably could have picked for this movie was Michael Bay. Snyder is going to direct Justice League whether anyone likes it or not so let's hope he learns from his mistakes in this movie and gives us something better to watch.

Someone thought this was a good idea? And Will Ferrel actually said yes to playing Raegen as he's losing his mind. At least, for a moment, before the immediate controversial reaction caused him to back track. Who woulda guessed American's wouldn't be receptive to a movie mocking the tragic mental deterioration of one of the 5 greatest leaders in this country's history

Civil War was good. It succeeded at doing a lot of things. There was only one area I think it was weak in, but I think the 9+/10 ratings I've seen it getting are overrating it a bit (probably because it compares quite favorably to Batman v Superman).

Don't mistake a 90%+ approval rating as a 9/10+ score. The metacritic is only 75, which is perfectly fair. The approval rating of 90%+ is also fair, because really, how do you walk away from that movie without at least somewhat appreciating what you saw? It's a lot less confusing than The Force Awaken's absurd metacritic score of 81 when it should be in the 60's.

Don't mistake a 90%+ approval rating as a 9/10+ score. The metacritic is only 75, which is perfectly fair. The approval rating of 90%+ is also fair, because really, how do you walk away from that movie without at least somewhat appreciating what you saw? It's a lot less confusing than The Force Awaken's absurd metacritic score of 81 when it should be in the 60's.

Before the weekend (Wednesday?), I'm pretty sure I saw the metacritic score at 92.

That is way generous, and surprising because you'd think the earliest wave of reviews would be given by the best critics (Best being a relative term, of course, but as far as the industry is concerned) who get to view the premier/early copies, and not the Marvel Maniacs who overrate all of these flicks/ But apparently the initial wave was the most positive one, interestingly.

Next on my list to see is Jungle book, which looks awesome. The preview for Tarzan looked really cool, too. Glad both of these movies are getting a proper 21st century makeover.

I saw Star Trek Beyond last night and looking it up on Rotten Tomatoes today I am kinda surprised at how it's rated - it's wasn't bad, but it also wasn't great. It felt very formulaic the way a lot of Marvel movies (Avengers, Iron Man, etc) have become...they're very glossy but kinda boring/plain.

One Marvel franchise that I fucking love is Guardians of the Galaxy - must have watched it (or part of it...it's always on TMN) more than a half dozen times...great re-watchability!

Don't misunderstand Rotten Tomatoes my dude. 90% is not akin to an A grade like most would think. It simply means, 90% of the people who watched the movie thought it was an enjoyable movie. They don't even necessarily need to think its a good movie. It just needs to be enjoyable and according to the Rotten Tomatoes review rubric, you're supposed to give it a fresh tomato based on that.

So, pretty much any well-directed and well-acted Hollywood blockbuster is a guaranteed 85+ on Rotten Tomatoes because its very hard to watch these movies and not at least say you enjoyed it. Even if you thought it was unoriginal, generic, and lacked substance, you still generally enjoyed your 2 hours.

A more accurate representation of what critics truly think is Metacritic and to a lesser extent IMDB. Metacritic on ST:Beyond is 68, and IMDB is 7.6. I'm sure those scores are much closer to where you'd rate the movie. Marvel movies are similar, in the 65-80 range on IMDB/Metacritic but the 80-95 range on Rotten Tomatoes.

The problem is Rotten Tomatoes has become by far the most popular score to reference when discussing how critics are receiving a movie and people often are mislead regarding how highly the film community actually thinks of these movies. Metacritic is a way better judge of quality than RT which is more just a measure of how fun a movie is.

I thought The Infiltrator starring Bryan Cranston was a really good movie. Unfortunately, its a box office disaster, costing 47 million and so far only bringing back less than 10m in its first 3 weeks (Meaning it'll likely cap out below 15), so don't expect to see another starring role for Cranston anytime soon (or ever, he isn't getting younger and his Breaking Bad fame fades by the day).

That said, he performs brilliantly as the undercover DEA agent who infiltrated Pablo Escobar's infamous drug ring and helped bring it down. The acting in the film by essentially all characters is top notch, the dialogue is effective, and even the emotional themes of the movie are effective. Much of the movie is spent emphasizing the compounding stress caused by becoming closer and closer friends with people you are about to imprison for life, and the difficulties of managing family obligations while living a double-life. Bryan Cranston is extremely convincing and drives these themes home. John Leguizamo is a major plus throughout the whole movie as well, playing Cranston's partner who seems to love being an undercover criminal a bit too much. The film has 3-4 major female roles as well and all of them knock it out of the park. From Cranston's wife, to his undercover wife, to his criminal partner's wife, ladies are represented strongly with tons of dialogue throughout the movie, play major roles in driving the plot forward, and deliver extremely compelling performances. In today's Hollywood that's still insanely tilted towards men (Think 90%/10% type splits between male/female representation), it was nice to see.

The only hiccup with the movie, and its a consistent hiccup, is mediocre directing. The directing takes away from a lot of strong acting/writing, often trivializing scenes with excessive closeups. Without spoiling much, there is also a very poorly explained element of danger that isn't clarified until near the end of the long movie, and it feels generally unnecessary.

I'd give the movie an 8/10. Unfortunately its a huge flop financially, but its a very good movie. It feels like better directing and an actual marketing budget (I didn't see one damn commercial about the movie and only discovered it was starring Bryan Cranston on accident) could've made it a more successful movie.

Suicide Squad was... kind of a mess. You can see the potential beneath the mess... but it's a mess. I have to agree with most of the critical consensus, except I think it could have actually used even less Joker. Not that Leto's performance was necessarily bad, he just kind of felt like a distraction from the movie in half his scenes.

EDIT: So that this isn't all bad, I'll mention that Viola Davis as Amanda Waller was fantastic. She also might have been the only well-written character, though...

I didn't think it was that bad though I agree the Joker parts felt out of place and I wasn't too excited about what I saw from Leto anyway. Sorry, but Ledger set the bar high for Joker and Leto was crawling under it. Smith played a great Deadshot and Robbie played an amazing Harley Quinn, but Davis did steal the show as Waller. At the end of the day it was still better than BvS! Hahaha

I thought The Infiltrator starring Bryan Cranston was a really good movie. Unfortunately, its a box office disaster, costing 47 million and so far only bringing back less than 10m in its first 3 weeks (Meaning it'll likely cap out below 15), so don't expect to see another starring role for Cranston anytime soon (or ever, he isn't getting younger and his Breaking Bad fame fades by the day).

That said, he performs brilliantly as the undercover DEA agent who infiltrated Pablo Escobar's infamous drug ring and helped bring it down. The acting in the film by essentially all characters is top notch, the dialogue is effective, and even the emotional themes of the movie are affective. Much of the movie is spent emphasizing the compounding stress caused by becoming closer and closer friends with people you are about to imprison for life, and the difficulties of managing family obligations while living a double-life. Bryan Cranston is extremely convincing and drives these themes home. John Leguizamo is a major plus throughout the whole movie as well, playing Cranston's partner who seems to love being an undercover criminal a bit too much. The film has 3-4 major female roles as well and all of them knock it out of the park. From Cranston's wife, to his undercover wife, to his criminal partner's wife, ladies are represented strongly with tons of dialogue throughout the movie, play major roles in driving the plot forward, and deliver extremely compelling performances. In today's Hollywood that's still insanely tilted towards men (Think 90%/10% type splits between male/female representation), it was nice to see.

The only hiccup with the movie, and its a consistent hiccup, is mediocre directing. The directing takes away from a lot of strong acting/writing, often trivializing scenes with excessive closeups. Without spoiling much, there is also a very poorly explained element of danger that isn't clarified until near the end of the long movie, and it feels generally unnecessary.

I'd give the movie an 8/10. Unfortunately its a huge flop financially, but its a very good movie. It feels like better directing and an actual marketing budget (I didn't see one damn commercial about the movie and only discovered it was starring Bryan Cranston on accident) could've made it a more successful movie.

Excellent review, Kyle. I was looking forward to this one, still am, but it's too bad because Cranston is a talent and it seems like an interesting story.

Originally Posted by Hamsterkill

Suicide Squad was... kind of a mess. You can see the potential beneath the mess... but it's a mess. I have to agree with most of the critical consensus, except I think it could have actually used even less Joker. Not that Leto's performance was necessarily bad, he just kind of felt like a distraction from the movie in half his scenes.

EDIT: So that this isn't all bad, I'll mention that Viola Davis as Amanda Waller was fantastic. She also might have been the only well-written character, though...

I wasn't sure what to think from the first time I saw the trailer. I may or may not see it who knows.

Doctor Strange was good. I think it was sub-par as Marvel Studios movies go, though. I'd say it's better than Thor 1, maybe on par with Thor 2. I felt like it tried to go a little too light in tone and didn't quite take itself serious enough for the character involved. Still a good movie though -- it just missed the mark by a little. I'd say 3/5.

I thought Dr Strange was amazing! It was one of the better Marvel movies made. Benedict Cumberbatch is the perfect Dr Strange and it was funnier than I thought it was going to be. The beginning made me wish I was on LSD while watching it - hahaha! I would rate it 8/10 and a must see in the theatres.

I really enjoyed Rogue One. Better than Force Awakens IMO. Some really fun characters, despite not really having the time to develop them. Probably the darkest film in the franchise, which makes sense for where it is in the timeline -- though I understand why that aspect has polarized some fans in the audience.

Still not without flaws -- mostly minor directorial mistakes with the principal one being the CG faces. It makes me think the reshoots they did probably helped the film a lot, though I'd be interested to see the original cut. Star Wars megafans will also note some incongruity with Ep 4, though nothing major. I'd say 4/5, overall.

I really enjoyed Rogue One. Better than Force Awakens IMO. Some really fun characters, despite not really having the time to develop them. Probably the darkest film in the franchise, which makes sense for where it is in the timeline -- though I understand why that aspect has polarized some fans in the audience.

Still not without flaws -- mostly minor directorial mistakes with the principal one being the CG faces. It makes me think the reshoots they did probably helped the film a lot, though I'd be interested to see the original cut. Star Wars megafans will also note some incongruity with Ep 4, though nothing major. I'd say 4/5, overall.

Yeah, finally got around to seeing it and thought it was really good.

It was definitely much darker than the others (Cassian sniping that Saw Gerrera soldier was unexpected) and I was totally surprised that everyone died...though I guess they had to given ep4 basically starts at the end of the film. Still, it took me surprise.

I had thought that blind Chirrut was a Jedi given his skills, his talking about the force and in the final battle they did a close up of his staff and it looked like there was a lightsaber attached to his staff. I also thought they were setting Jyn up to be a Jedi with her mom telling her to trust the force as a kid, then the bit about her necklace having the kyber-crystal necklace...kyber-crystal being the power source of lightsabers. I guess not lol!!!

I want to go see again so hopefully they do a short re-release on the IMAX 3D screen as it would be awesome to see it on that screen!

Going into Wonder Woman, I was super-stoked to be impressed by a DC movie. Coming out of it, I felt like it's been overpraised -- by a lot. I can see how it'd be the best DC has done since Chris Nolan, but that doesn't have a very high bar. I'd rate it pretty close to Thor 2 (which, for me, was the better of the two Thors) and Dr. Strange.

Going into Wonder Woman, I was super-stoked to be impressed by a DC movie. Coming out of it, I felt like it's been overpraised -- by a lot. I can see how it'd be the best DC has done since Chris Nolan, but that doesn't have a very high bar. I'd rate it pretty close to Thor 2 (which, for me, was the better of the two Thors) and Dr. Strange.

I don't try to breach PC lines but the industry does this often these days in heavily feminist projects. Mad Max, Bridesmaids, the feminist movies get praised out of proportion for their empowerment of female leads (or first-time female producers in specific contexts, etc.). I have no strong objection to it, Hollywood is still a grossly misogynistic culture and it reflects in job opportunities in salaries, so I don't mind that we prop up the rare projects with mostly female teams. But it does make objectivity difficult to expect from reviewers, especially with big blockbusters, where a women lead+producer team being in charge of a 150 million dollar budget could cause disastrous consequences going forward for women if it doesn't perform well. There's almost a sense of responsibility by the film world to make sure Wonder Woman was a sensational hit or else risk setting women back even further in the industry. It would've been a long, long time before another $150m+ got handed to another female producer+lead team if this didn't work out superbly well. Now, its likely going to be a very short time before we see it again.

Additionally, nobody wants to be the critic accused of hating a movie because it featured the first producer+lead women pair or the first nearly all-women cast. Much like Bridesmaids, which has a shockingly high rotten tomatoes score of 95%, its simply better for ones critical career to just say "good movie" and move on. Save the hot takes for less controversial subjects.

I really doubt the movie is that much better than Suicide Squad or Batman vs Superman. DC has shown their style by now.

I really doubt the movie is that much better than Suicide Squad or Batman vs Superman. DC has shown their style by now.

Oh no, I will say Wonder Woman is *much* better than Suicide Squad (which is just a mess). I must confess to not having seen BvS, but I imagine WW is quite a bit better than that one too. Like I said, its quality is within the range of Marvel, it just would be one of their sub-par ones, in my opinion.

I don't think Wonder Woman had a heavily female producer team. Pretty sure it's the same producers from the other DC films. And Captain Marvel was already in the works, so it wouldn't have been that long before the next female-driven tentpole. C. Marvel even has more women in the production team with women screenwriters.

Well, FWIW, I thought BvS was a lot better than most did and probably the same as SS, which I didn't like but didn't hate nearly as much as others. I would've given SS a 6.5 and BVS a 7.5 so to me I expect to think around an 8.0 of WW but we'll see. I certainly doubt I will grade it as highly as most of what I'm reading.

The best newish movies I've watched recently are Logan and John Wick 2. John Wick 2 is standard cookie cutter action fare but the fight choreography and atmosphere set it apart. Its as good as generic action films get. Logan was something special, though. Truly a departure from any standard super hero conventions and a uniquely gritty movie that easily ranks as one of the 3 best in the X-men universe which has some really strong competition for those top 3 spots (X2, First Class, Days of Future Past).

I also really enjoyed Skull Island, but have significant doubts regarding where Universal can take this Dark Universe.

WW is easily an 8 for me. It's by far the best DC movie out there and is basically a Marvel version of the first Capt America movie which was fantastic. The only thing I didn't like in WW was Ares (the actor who played him needed to look more fearsome).

If Justice League is as good (I expect it will be better) than I'll be happy. I've come to the realization that comic movies will mostly never be as great as we hope they will but that doesn't mean they can't still be considered very good movies.